Tintagel, Cornwall, Great Britain.
Continuing my brief tour of British sites important to the Arthurian legend -- and, therefore, to the novel I'm writing -- we have this photograph of Tintagel. This spit of land, connected to the mainland by a very narrow spit of land, is the legendary birthplace of King Arthur himself -- in the castle whose ruins still occupy the island.
As the legend tells, King Uther Pendragon fought a war against some British Lords. He was at a feast following a victory when he caught the eye of Igraine, the wife of one of his staunchest allies, Duke Gorlois of Cornwall, who dwelt in Tintagel Castle. Uther ordered Gorlois to give him Igraine, but Gorlois refused and fled the meadhall to return to his castle. A new war began, this between the former friends Uther and Gorlois.
While the war went on, Merlyn came to Uther and helped him gain entrance to the castle by using a magic spell to make Uther take on the appearance of Gorlois, so that Igraine would think it was her husband just returning from battle and coming to bed. Thus Uther took Igraine, not knowing as he did so that on the nearby battlefield Gorlois had been struck down and killed. So when Uther got Igraine with child, the child was illegitimate. When it was born -- a boy, named Arthur -- he was given to Merlyn to raise. All that happened here, on Tintagel.
One of my dreams is to travel to Britain and see at last all of the places that I've been writing about.
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